VAJ: Why don't you just introduce yourself, who you are and what you play?
Ian: Ian Jensen, guitarist and singer and song-writer guy.
Tom: I'd be Tom Antle and I'd be that crazy drummer guy!
Bill: I'd be Bill, Bass.
VAJ: So why don't you give me some Orchid history?
Ian: Tom and I have been playing for about 3 or 4 years, with really crappy bass players. We had like a whole bunch of names. We played as a metal band...like every kind of music in the world, except country. We had really bad names like ripped off of other people's songs...We had really bad asshole bass players...We played solo just to two of us then Bill joined like 2 years ago...out of the blue...didn't even play bass but he joined the band as our bass player...We made a really shitty tape that we made jigging school one day last year in like 3 hours with a
4-track.
VAJ: Why the name Orchid?
Ian: It's better than Black Sunshine (laughter)
VAJ: If you had to describe your music, how would you?
Ian: As someone else would say, Nirvana, I dunno.
Tom: I'd say there is a little something for everybody.
Ian: With little pieces of things we listen to.
VAJ: What do you listen to?
Bill: Anything with distorted guitar!
VAJ: You guys have a very Nirvana type sound, especially the singing, are they an influence?
Ian: No it's due to bad singing (laughter). My voice sounds like Kurt I guess.
Tom: It's just like the way Ian sings. There's no way getting around it.
VAJ: How do you guys write your material?
Bill: Ian writes them and gives them to us.
Tom: Has a basic idea of what the drums are gonna sound like, says "do this"...he's the one with the brain.
Ian: I sit home and have an idea on my mind...
Tom: and a bag of cornchips (laughter)
Ian: Corn chips, masturbation, a pen and a guitar and we're laughing.
It's pretty much all thinking about sex drugs and rock 'n' roll...I mean there's some songs I try to have a statement about something other than that. Anything from grief to cheezy love songs done in a real aggressive way. It can range to anything really.
VAJ: What kind of covers do you play?
Tom: Whatever ones we can put together in 3 days (laughter)
Ian: We played everything from Bad Religion to Hole to Violent Femmes.
VAJ: Ok. The second demo you guys did, how did you record it?
Ian: I saved up $400...I recorded The Disowned's tape and our new tape. I just like recording...We did the drums and bass one Saturday. They got really baked and I got really drunk...I was knocking mikes over and one was under the floor tom and then toward the end was banging the skins and when you hit it all you heard was a rattle, but we didn't notice because I was drunk, then I had exams that week so I did what I could.
VAJ: Is there a particular sound you are looking for?
Ian: Something that when we play live everybody who's in the audience beats the crap out of the social groups...everybody goes nuts kind of thing or something that's really emotional.
VAJ: A lot of people would classify you as an alternative band which covers way too much of an area. What do you think about the fact that there's dozens of bands out there all being classified under the same title?
Ian: Personally, I think alternative is more mainstream than mainstream is. It's almost alternative to be mainstream. To be a glam band is like a weird thing now and an alternative band is what everybody wants to be.
VAJ: What are your immediate plans for the future?
All: SHOWS!!!
Bill: We want to get as many shows as we can and as much exposure as we can...
VAJ: Any final comments to all of the screaming Orchid fans out there?
Tom: Don't lose faith, we're really OK!
Ian: If there are any, please let us know!
Check out Orchid's latest demo, "If It Were Nothing", available on SuperBob Records.